PwC throws doubt on government's Rover cash

The government’s pre-election injection of cash into doomed car maker MG
Rover was made following a warning from administrator PwC that it was ‘highly
unlikely’ the company would be sold as a going concern, it has been revealed.

The Department of Trade and Industry handed over £6.5m just before May’s
election in a bid to keep Rover’s 6,000 workers on for another week in the hope
that a deal could be worked out to sell the company.

However, PwC partner Tony Lomas, one of Rover’s administrators, told theFinancial Times that he had become very sceptical that a deal could be
done with the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, and refused to risk any
more of the company’s cash.

The government is currently facing an inquiry by the National Audit Office
into how the money was spent.

Lomas claimed that the DTI refused to rule out the possibility of a deal with
SAIC when it handed over the cash, as the administrators had been unable to get
in touch with the far-eastern group over that weekend.